Biden on gun bill: ‘I think we’re there’

Vice President Joe Biden told a former congressional aide Tuesday during a visit to the Capitol building that the Senate was just two votes short of reaching the 60-vote threshold needed to pass a gun reform bill through the chamber.

After a speech honoring Gabriel Zimmerman, who was killed in the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that severely injured his boss, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Biden told former Giffords aide Pam Simon that the bill would pass and that two votes were needed.

"We will win," Biden told Simon, who survived a gunshot wound in the shooting.

When asked about his comments, Biden told reporters that the vote count on the gun bill was "fluid."

"We are working to get to 60, and it's fluid," Biden said. "I think we're there, but it's not unusual as you all know for people to make up their minds at the last minute."

According to a Democratic Senate aide, the chamber could hold a vote on amendments to the bill as soon as this week. After meeting with Senate Democrats in closed-door meetings Tuesday, House Majority Leader Harry Reid said there was "significant momentum" on getting the votes needed, but that they still did not have enough to pass.